Leather-working machine



F. M. McCARTHY.

LEATHER WORKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 0014,1919.

,35 L,572, Patented Oct 929,

2 SHEETS- l.

F. M. McCARTHY.

LEATHER WORKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 0on4, 1919.

13545372, Patented 0011.5,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FLORENtJE M. MCCARTHY, OF 53 1, LOUIS, MISSQ'U'BI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES W. BYRNES, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

Application filed October 4, 1919.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FLORENCE M. Mo- CARTHY, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Leather-forking Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to leather working machines, and particularly to machines of the kind that are used for cutting the end portions of strips of leather which are to be lapped and connected together.

In the manufacture of leather driving belts it is the usual practice toskive off the end portions of the strips. of leather from which a belt is to be formed by means of a machine generally termed a scariing machine, then bevel off the extreme ends of the strips in a tipping machine so as to form feather edges at the ends of the strips, and thereafter, scrape the skived end portions of the strips with a hand scraper so as to remove the ridges that are produced by tipping or feather edging the strips. This hand scraping operation is slow and requires considerable skill and care on the part of the operator in order to produce a true and even surface and to avoid tearingthe feather edged ends of the strips, and even with skilful operators, the feather edged end of the strips are frequently torn.

The main object of my invention isto provide a means for mechanically removing the ridge on a strip whose end portion has been skived and then feather edged without liability of tearing the feather edged end of the strip. I

Another object is to provide an efficient machine of simple construction for finishing the end portions of strips of leather which are to be connected together by lapped joints, said machine being so constructed that it can be adjusted easily to adapt it to strips having scarfed or skived end portions of varying lengths.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a top plan view of a leather working machine constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of said machine.

7 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 5, 1920.

Serial No. 323,414.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of a portion of the machine.

Fig. 4: is also a side elevational view, illus trating the work support in the'position it occupies at the end of the cutting operation.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of a strip of leather whose end portion has been skived off in a scarfing machine.

Fig. 6 isa side elevational view of said strip after the extreme end of same has been finished or feather edged in a tipping machine; and

Fig. 7 illustrates said strip after the end portion of same has been finished in my improved machine.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings, which illustrate the preferred form of my invention, A designates a rotatable cutter that revolves in the direction indicated by the arrow 00 in Fig. 3, and B designates a work support which is so constructed that when a leather strip 3 of the kind shown in Fig. 6 is arranged in operative position on said work support and fed to the cutter A, said cutter will remove the ridge 8 on the skived or scarfcd portion 7 of said strip, and thus produce an even surface s that inclines upwardly gradually from the feather edged end 8 of the strip. Various types or kinds of cutters can be used and any preferred method can be used for mounting the cutter and driving same. In the machine herein illustrated the cutter A consists of a cylinder secured to a horizontally-chsposed shaft 1 and provided. on its periphery with angularly-disposed cutting blades or knives 2, said shaft 1 being rotatably mounted in a stationary supporting structure 3, and provided with a pulley a over which a driving belt 5 passes. The work support B can also be formed in various ways without departing from the spirit of my invention, but when the machine is provided with a rotatable or revoluble cutter, it is preferable to construct the work support B so that it can be rocked or oscillated and provide said work support with an eccentrically-disposed surface on which the underside s of .the end portion of the strip bearswhen the lap or scarfed end portion of said strip is being leveled or evened up. Accordingly, I have illustrated the work support B as consisting of a cylindrical shaped meinber arranger].

horizontally in front of the cutter A and provided with an eccentrically-disposed surface 6 on which the under side of the skived orscarfed end portion of the strip is supported during the cutting operation.

The work support B is normally spaced away from the cutter A and ineans'is pro vided for moving said elements toward and away from each other so as to bring the :work on the work' support into operative position to be engaged by the blades or knives of the cutter. One convenient way of accomplishing this is to mount the work I support "B on a' movable'frame '7 that is adapted to be actuated by afoot treadle 8 or other suitable device under control'of the operator in charge of the machine. The work support .carryingframe' 7 of the ma chine herein illustrated is pivotally connected at 9 to brackets onfthe stationary frame-work 3 of the machine and is connected to the foot treadle in such a manner that when said treadle is depressed the work support B will move rearwardly toward the outterA. When the treadle 8' is released the work support B is moved forwardly away from the cutter by means ofa spring 10 connected; to the stationary frame .3 of the machine and to the movable work support carrying frame 7 at a point below the axis about which said frame 7 swings. Any preferred means may be employed for limit ing, the movement of thework support B toward the cutter A, the means herein illustrated for this purpose consistingofadjust-able stops 11 on thestationary frame 3 of the machine that engage-and limit the movement of the swinging frame '4" when said frame is depressed by the foot treadle S.

' The work support B is mounted in the frame 7 in such a manner that it can be rocked or oscillated about a horizontal axis parallel tothe longitudinal axis of the cutter A, and means is provided for normally holding said worksupport in such a position that the high point 60 ofthe eccentrically-disposed surface 6 thereon is'ar ranged below the transverse center ofthe cutter A, as shown in Fig. ,3. the-ma chine herein illustrated atorsion spring 12 (shown in Fig. 1) is provided for turning the work support Bin the direction indicated bythe arrowz in Fig. 3, so as to hold even surface material, so far as my invention is concerned, what means is employed for limiting the oscillating movement of the work supportand for holding said work support in its normal position.

In using the machine the operator inserts the scarfed' or skivedend portion of a strip of the character shown in Fig. 6 between the cutter A and the eccentrically-disposed surface 6 on the work support B, being careful to see that the extreme end of the strip is in a-linement, or approximate alinement, with the high point 60 on the eccentrically disposed surface 6. The operator then depresses the'foot treadle 8 so as to move the work support B rearwardly toward the outter A, thus causing the strip to be so positioned with relation to the cutter that the transverse center of the cutter is a trifle above the inner end of the scarfed or skived portion of the strip. Thereafter,the operator pulls the strip upwardly so as to revolve the work support B forwardly or in the direction indicated by the arrow 2 in Fig. 4, due to the frictional engagement between said strip and work support, and thus cause the cutter to remove sufficient leather from the top side of the scarfed end portion of the strip to form a uniform and which inclir s upwardly gradually from the feather edgedend of the strip, as shown in Fig 7, the work support being so designed and adjusted that the cutter shaves off a thin portion from the strip beginning at the inner end of the scarf or lap and terminating ad acent the feather edged end of the strip.

In order that the machine may be used for finishing strips having skived or scarfed end portions of varying lengths, the w rk support is provided with aplurality of centrically-disposed surfaces 6 of varying lengths, and the stop 13 on said work support is so mounted that it can be arrangez'l in various positions to cooperate with. the stationary stops 1 1 and 14 when one or the other of the eccentrically-disposed surfaces 6 is being used to support the strip being finished. In themachine herein illustrated the work support Bmerely consists of a cylindrical-shaped member provided at its Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A leather working machine, comprising a revolving cutter, an oscillating work support arranged to rock about an axis extending parallel to said cutter for moving the work relatively to the cutter during the cutting operation, and an eccentrically-dis posed surface on said work support for supporting the work on which the cutter opcrates.

2. A leather working machine, comprising a revolving cutter, and a rockable or oscillating work support arranged in proximity to said cutter and provided with an eccentrically-disposedsurface for supporting the work, said work support being adapted to be rocked during the cutting operation in such a direction that the high point of the eccentrically-disposed surface thereon will move toward the cutting zone of said cutter.

3. A leather working machine, comprising a horizontally-disposed, rotatable cutter, a rockable work support arranged at one side of said cutter in parallel relation to same, an eccentrically-disposed surface on said work support for supporting the work being operated on, and means for enabling said cutter and work support to be moved toward and from each other, the work support being adapted to be revolved to feed the work to the cutter.

i. A machine for finishing a strip having a feather edged end and a scarfed portion that terminates in a ridge, comprising a re volving cutter, and means for supporting the strip and moving it relatively to the cutter, in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the cutter and in such a manner that the cutter will remove said ridge and form a regular, even surface on the strip that inclines upwardly from the feather edged end of the strip.

5. A machine for finishing a strip having a feather edged end portion and a scarfed portion that terminates in a ridge, comprising a revolving cutter, an oscillating work support arranged in proximity to said outter and adapted to be rocked in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the cutter to present the strip to the cutter, and an eccentrically-disposed surface on said work support on which the underside of the end portion of the strip bears.

G. A machine for finishing a strip having a feather edged end portion and a scarfed portion that terminates in a ridge, comprising a cutter, an oscillating Work support arranged in proximity to said cutter, and an eccentrically-disposed surface on said work support on which the underside of a portion of the strip bears, said work support being adapted to be rocked in a direction to move the strip past the cutting edge of the cutter and cause the high point of the eccentrically-disposed surface on said work support to be carried inwardly toward the cutting edge of the cutter, thereby causing the cutter to remove a thin shaving from the'top side of the strip.

7. A leather working machine, comprising a rotatable cutter, an oscillating work support arranged in proximity to said outter, and a plurality of eccentrically-disposed surfaces of different lengths on said work support for supporting the work to be operated on.

8. A leather working machine, comprising a rotatable cutter, an oscillating work support arranged in proximity to said cutter provided with an eccentrically-disposed surface on which the work is supported, a movable frame on which said work support is mounted, and means for actuating said frame so as to move the work into operative position with relation to the cutter.

9 A leather working machine, comprising a rotatable cutter, a work support arranged in proximity to said cutter and consisting of a cylindrical-shaped member provided with an eccentrically-disposed portion on which the work is supported, a movable frame in which said work support is journa-lcd, and means that exerts pressure on said work support in such a manner that the eccentrically-disposed surface thereon normally occupies a certain position with relation to the cutting zone of said cutter.

10. A leather working machine, comprising a rotatable cutter, a pivotally mounted frame arranged in front of said cutter, a cylindrical member ournaled in said frame and provided with a work supporting surface that is eccentrically-disposed With relation to the axis of said member, means under control of the operator for moving said frame so as to bring the work supporting member thereon into close proximity to the cutter, a spring for moving said frame in the opposite direction, means for limiting the swinging movement of said frame, a stop on said work supporting member that cooperates with a stop on said swinging frame to limit the movement of said work supporting member relatively to said frame, and means for normally holding said stops in engagement with each other.

FLORENCE M. MCCARTHY. 

